Ecommerce Home Page

What Should be on it?

[rj87uk]

Hey,

I’m wondering what’s best for an Ecommerce homepage.

* Full of special products?
* Some major sections & two special products.
* No special products & deep link into the sections?

What generates more sales?

RJ

[badass101]

Good question - I'm interested in the response.
We've got a bit of blurb with some links, and above that we have featured products (6 of them - random from a list of around 10).

However, I'm sure it's not the best solution.

[LifeinAsia]

People like specials (especially if you point out how much they're saving over similar items elsewhere)- change these items frequently to show that your site is updated regularly and keep them coming back often.
People are like sheep- listing your best sellers will maybe (depending on your products) make them more inclined to buy those items.

[hellraiser1]

ive got an interesting twist to this topic?

how many people out of 100 see your front page? is it 10, 1, 50, 0. and of that how many of those are return visitors. In my site, i have 300 brand new uniques a day and only 7 view my front page. usually people are searching for something on google and yahoo snd come across your deep content. since about 98% dont buy and dont really care about you, they dont see the front page anyway. (or is that just me) The majority of return people however view the front page to see new products or updates. so id recommend a lot of rotating content with links to things that people would want to return to. who else has this question?

[Peter Cornstalk]

low price gauranteed!

[rj87uk]

Not exactly the response I was after!

Does anyone have anything based on experience of how to increase sales by changing the home page?

All specials?
None?
All links into section pages?
Some links some specials?

So really looking for someone to talk based on experience...

[jsinger]

how many people out of 100 see your front page? is it 10, 1, 50, 0.

Interesting point. Still I don't think I'd buy from a site without glancing at the front page. Other shoppers, I don't know.

What to put on the front page? As always, I mainly take clues from the big commerce sites. They have the volume and ability to test this. A few hot high margin products, specials, new stuff (to test how well it sells) etc.

In our B/M stores thats how we've always decided what went in our windows and ads and "end caps."

[sun818]

Aside from navigation links, we list Featured products. We put our most expensive items and even if we get one conversion per month, it is worth it. There's also a section for the most recent best sellers. I think your home page should also list at the top what locations you ship to, shipping method used, and what payment methods you accept.

[LifeinAsia]

Different options produce different results on different sites. Like so many other things on the Internet, there is no one-size-fits-all.

Your best bet is to do lots of testing with various options and see what combination works best for YOUR site and YOUR visitors.

[JSebastian]

My clients have found the best was is to have specials above the fold, then have category links under. Keep it full and clean, not full and cluttered. The links boost page rank and bring keyword customers. The specials pull them in to what you want. Users are like lemmings. Lead them where you want them to go in a funnel manner. Give them a shiny command to click. Look! See More Info! Order Now! Reserve yours now!

Works every time.

[rj87uk]

Well, that’s more like a response!

A few good points the one being about the shipping / payment in the home page for an ecommerce website do you think this is essential?

The problem I will face is getting all the information i want to the user without "clutter". What are people’s thoughts on this? Still keeping with this topic what is the most important information a user will need to be more comfortable to just buy there and then?

I think this is a good topic for discussion as a lot of people will be wondering the same thing, new and old people here.

RJ

[JSebastian]

Again, my formula is products & categories on the left, info and support on the right.

Customers know what they want...or at least a general idea.

So why are they on your site. To buy the product...but why don't they. They need to qualify the purchase in their mind. Is this car or boat REALLY worth 50K to me? Qualify their purchase in their mind for them. They need to know three things.

1. This is what I REALLY need as opposed to what I THINK I need

2. I'm getting the best deal, or I think I'm getting a deal (even if they're not).

3. ...and afterwords, warranty, support, customer service, shipping?

So, without rambling on about about heritage and history and blah blah. Address these concerns on the right. Leave them no reason to go anywhere else. Show an SSL seal, square trade seal, international ordering info, anything that provides instant reputation. You only have 10 seconds to talk. If a customer sees a link that says 30 day return guarantee. They probably wont click it, but if they read it you don't need them to.

You'll also notice more successful companies have large amounts of site content aside from products. This is like the chicken and the egg. As they grew the needed more info on the site. As more info ended up on the site more people THOUGHT they were bigger reputable companies, without saying. Hey! We're a big company...we promise!

[Essex_boy]

Name and address and contact telephone number, along with the times in international format that your open for business.

[lorax]

People expect certain things on the home page of an ecomm site.

1) identification of who you are and what you do/sell
2) access to/list of the goods and/or services
2) a way to contact you - even if it's a link to a contact us page
3) confidence and credibility builders - think awards, memberships, associations, testimonials
4) a list or links to your latest deals

I look at the home page as the central resource. I know that content on sub-pages is likely to be restricted to whatever the purpose of that page is. The home page, on the other hand, is a bird's eye view of the website. I should see or have access to everything I need from there. As someone noted here, even if they come in on a sub-page, they check out the home page. That's not an uncommon habit. It's because it is intended to be the starting point of a website.

[kermado]

Try a list of the most popular products and also seals, e.g. hacker safe or PalPal Buyer Protection.

If you've won any awards for service by impartial reviewers, is probably best to put these on also...

[jsinger]

I think the topic starter was referring mostly to what sorts of products/promotions should go on the home page: One big splash on a single product or a few smaller promos or a shotgun approach with links to many products. Good subject, but certainly will vary with the scope of the site.

Mentioning awards! ... this isn't 1998. I guess referring to your Pulitzer Prize is fine if you're selling a book. Or a Cy Young Award if you have a baseball pitching instruction site. LOL! I don't know of many truly impartial awards and any mention of Pay Pal will offend some savvy web shoppers.

As for Hacker Safe etc. let's don't get off on that subject for the 10th time. (we intentionally have no certificates on our site, btw)